Sotheby’s Headquarters
The new Sotheby’s Real Estate Headquarters at Carvoeiro, Algarve, is on an existent building characterized by both local and traditional construction technics as well as materials. In order to save and recuperate the building having in mind the new program, we have decided to conduct some internal demolitions as the building was not well preserved. Said demolitions, at a spatial configuration level, will allow to recover the building and make the necessary adjustments to the contemporary needs, mainly in terms of energy efficiency.
The main façade had been transformed over the years therefore we have redesigned it according to what was believed to have been in the past. We have also introduced a cornice as it is tradition in most buildings of the region, similar to those existent in the area.
On the ground level one finds the public access into a double height hall with a connecting stair as the main element, of sculpture character; it intends to give the space more fluidity in order to achieve greater sense of flow and space. On the upper floor, over the stair, we have proposed a skylight remembering the local constructions, as a way to achieve a higher height, sense of space and particular interest.
On the terrace we have proposed a new volume finished with the same materials as the existent building and with the same height; here one can find a small kitchen with a particular spatial configuration given by its skylight. Both volumes, the existent and the new building, are openly different and take as architectonic options for its completion a sense of rehabilitation, maintenance and consolidation of existent walls and structure, being chosen, whenever possible, local and traditional technics and materials. We believe that this way one can establish a coherent relation between the existent and the new construction.
